The story of Abdel Rahman's visa points to a string of errors by U.S. officials; whatever could go wrong, did

EVER SINCE SHEIK OMAR AHMED ALI Abdel Rahman arrived in America in July 1990, he has confounded the U.S. government. His incendiary sermons at mosques in Jersey City, New Jersey, and Brooklyn, New York, have called for the violent overthrow of the Egyptian government. Now six of Sheik Abdel Rahman's followers have been indicted in connection with the bombing of the World Trade Center. Little wonder that the U.S. State Department is trying to figure out how the sheik got to America in the first place.

What's known for certain is that the American embassy in Khartoum gave him a visa...